Coalition condemns Forest Service recreation
proposals

Recommendations benefit ATV riders at the expense of other forms
of recreation

A coalition of recreation and environmental groups is condemning
the Forest Service’s recommendations in
a recent assessment of its recreation infrastructure in the
Allegheny National Forest. The Forest Service
recommendations include closing campgrounds at Beaver Meadows in
Forest County and Tracy Ridge in
McKean County. The recommendations also include reducing services
at numerous other campgrounds and
recreation facilities throughout Pennsylvania’s only national
forest.

“The Forest Service just spent the last five years revising the
forest plan for the Allegheny National Forest
and never disclosed that it planned to close campgrounds,” said
Karen Atwood, member of the Tionesta
Valley Snowmobile Club. “Despite the fact that recreation was one
of the three so-called ‘significant issues’
the Forest Service focused on, it failed to inform the public that
barely a year after the new plan was
completed, it would start closing recreation sites. It is
outrageous.”

The coalition, a united front comprised of the Tionesta Valley
Snowmobile Club, Allegheny Defense Project, and Friends of Rimrock and Allegheny Outdoor Adventures, claims
that by proposing these
recommendations after the revision of the forest plan, the Forest
Service is circumventing environmental
laws because, as the agency itself states, only “some of the
proposed actions will require full National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis” subject to public
comment and appeal.

“It is not a coincidence that the Forest Service waited until
after the forest plan was completed to disclose
these proposals,” said Reg Darling, spokesperson for Friends of
Rimrock, a group dedicated to protecting the
Rimrock Overlook and Picnic Area from oil and gas drilling. “The
Forest Service recreation proposals are aimed at crippling tourism at a time when the oil and gas industry
would like to have free reign on extraction
without public input and without tourists viewing the
environmental devastation which so often accompanies
drilling.”

The coalition also claims the Forest Service is not fulfilling its
legal obligations to manage the Allegheny for
a broad array of recreation activities. For instance, in 2007, the
Forest Service suggested that citizens might
want to go to “other State or National Forests” for remote
recreation opportunities. Additionally, the groups
contend that a recent tourism study completed for Warren County
indicated that the Forest Service as well as
local elected officials “expressed concern that trying to grow
Warren County’s tourism industry might
conflict with the timber, oil and gas industries.”

“What we are seeing is the systematic dismantling of recreation
opportunities in the Allegheny,” said Ryan
Talbott, ADP’s forest watch coordinator. “By closing campgrounds
and other recreation facilities across our
national forest, the Forest Service paves the way for oil
companies to drill in these areas. If you remove the
public from these areas, they are less likely to see them turned
into oil fields.”

The coalition points to the proposed closing of the Tracy Ridge
and Beaver Meadow campgrounds as
evidence that the Forest Service is attempting to remove
controversies ahead of time so that oil and gas
drillers can proceed with their extraction agendas unencumbered by
tourist sensitivities to the devastation
which so often results from such drilling.

“Tracy Ridge is a campground in a National Recreation Area,” said
Cathy Pedler, an ADP board member.
“We know, however, that test wells have already been drilled
adjacent to Tracy Ridge and that oil and gas
companies are pressuring the Forest Service to authorize access to
Tracy Ridge, which is also the largest
roadless area in the Allegheny. Closing this campground serves a
dual purpose – reducing recreation and
turning our public land over to the oil and gas industry.”

The coalition also claims that the Forest Service’s
recommendations are biased against low-impact recreation
to the benefit of the ATV industry.
“The Forest Service wants to close the Beaver Meadows campground
and transfer the toilet buildings to the
Marienville and Timberline ATV Trails,” said Bill Belitskus, ADP’s
board president. “This biased
management is the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy. For years,
instead of actively promoting all forms of
recreation, the Forest Service has actively discouraged citizens
from coming to the Allegheny with the
exception of ATV users. Now, the Forest Service wants to reduce or
completely eliminate a multitude of
recreation opportunities and blame it on the public instead of
addressing the root of the problem, which is the
Forest Service’s skewed priorities.”

“The Forest Service wants to blame the public for low visitation
rates, but what it really needs to do is take a
long look in the mirror,” said John Stoneman of the Allegheny
Outdoor Group.

“The reason the Forest
Service is registering lower visitation rates is partly because it
does not perform the most basic maintenance
of existing infrastructure. There have already been several times
this summer that the restroom facilities at
the Rimrock Overlook and Picnic Area were without the basic
necessity of toilet paper.

The Crown Jewel of
the Allegheny, and one of the most advertised and visited
attractions in our area, were not maintained to
accommodate the visiting public.

We hope the Forest Service is not
trying to dissuade the public from
visiting Rimrock so oil and gas companies can destroy this gem in the heart
of the Allegheny.”